


Miracle

by Hotalando



Series: Core [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Before timeskip, Bonding, Gen, everyday situations on the Sunny, mutual interests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 12:05:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12704652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotalando/pseuds/Hotalando
Summary: Robin finds a new source for historical information.





	Miracle

Escaped from the unpleasant weather outside, Robin had settled into the quietness of their kind-of-library, accompanied by the soft sounds of the rain knocking on the windows and the book she was currently reading. It was quite as interesting and fascinating as it was complex. The author didn't seem to be an experienced one which made it so much harder to follow, as well as the many years of difference between speech now and then. 

Hence she wasn't in the galley as most of the group that had decided on a match of poker till the rain would subside. (She had been excluded from all card games anyway for obvious reasons.) This spot on the Sunny was perfect in that way, most of the crew didn't spend much time in here anyway. 

And that was why she was surprised to hear the voice of their musician from across the table. 

"Have I startled you? Pardon me," Brook apologized in that formal way of his. 

"No, it's fine," she smiled back at him, "I wasn't prepared for any company, that is all."

"Ah, well, Usopp-san and Nami-san weren't happy with the way I was winning," the skeleton explained, a little amusement was audible in his voice, "It seems like it's my lucky day." 

Robin giggled. "Yes, they can be cruel when it comes to that." 

Silence enfolded between the two of them, lingering at the verge of awkwardness that as much as Robin disliked it was part of every encounter with Brook since their first meeting a few weeks ago. If that was ever going to change, she wondered, but in the same moment she couldn't quite imagine into what. 

So she offered him a soft smile and returned her attention back to her book as soon as he had responded. There was one thing she liked about him: Contrary to her younger crewmates, he was able to understand subtle gestures and not be offended by them, despite some issues, he was well-mannered and had adapted a certain etiquette that seemed more natural with him than with their cook. 

"Ah, sorry for disturbing again, Robin-san, is this book about the Miracle of Ahona?" 

She looked up to the older man in front of her, blinked, then turned the book to glance at the cover. It didn't say anything other than that it was a documentation of an extraordinary event and the name of the unpopular, by now dead author. "Yes, it is, how do you know?" 

Brook straightened up in his seat. "I was in my early teenage years when it occurred." 

Of course, why hadn't she thought of it? Their musician was _a lot_ older than them and not as oblivious to the world than some of their crewmates; why hadn't she thought about this possibility? 

Her surprise must have been visible in her look, as Brook chuckled and continued. "I was about thirteen and in a neighboring city, the townspeople didn't stop talking about it for a month..." His voice faded as he turned his head towards the window, clearly caught in a memory. "Ah, what does the book say?" 

Robin mentally shook off the petrifying surprise and replied, "It's not easy to understand, the author seems very inexperienced and it seems to be written in some kind of dialect." 

"May I take a look?" Carefully he took the book from his crewmate's hands, apparently trained at treating old and fragile objects. Or just the possessions of other’s. Another thing Robin liked about him.

He only seemed to be flying over the pages, flipping through them quickly with a finger on the page Robin had stopped reading. So considerate, she noticed, how had someone like him become a pirate? She couldn't help but wondering about that even more now. 

"It's an old dialect of that region, I happen to understand but not speak it." He returned the book to the archeologist with a smile, "Thank you." 

"How did you know that it was about the Miracle of Ahona? The cover and spine don't give any clues about it," she voiced her thoughts, still clueless about her crewmate. 

"I recognized the name of the author. He was the mayor of Ahona, and this documentation wasn't meant for anyone who isn't one of the Ahona people." Brook took a sip of his tea before adding: "I remember when it was released about a year after. There was only one copy but much more were requested by the townspeople. There was a mess over a simple book but people wanted to inherit it to their children so the miracle would never be forgotten. Unfortunately, that happened."

"What exactly happened? I read that there was great misery in Ahona for several years but I don't know what exactly it was," Robin sighed, admitting defeat. 

"That's a longer story," Brook began, another sip of his tea, continued, "Ahona was a young country back in the days, it had only been about half a century old when it happened." Dramatic pause for another gulp of his precious tea, "Some people from the neighboring countries founded it to escape from poverty or the law in their old homes. At first, it was all good, the countryside and nature was close to what is considered a paradise. It didn't take long for the young settlement to grow on to farming and selling their harvest until the city of Ahona was founded. Things started to become ugly from then on." 

Listening carefully to his every word, Robin didn't even notice the soft smile spreading on her lips. It felt good to finally have someone there who didn't treat history as something unpleasant and unwanted but seemed to be aware of its value. Or maybe she got carried away too much. 

"The richer they became, the more thoughtlessly they treated nature. In the end, they had worn out the fields and dried nature out completely that there was no harvest to gain from anymore," Brook continued, "Poverty, criminality, hunger and death settled into Ahona and demanded many people's lives. Hope was lost very fast when help from the other countries didn't come." 

"Why didn't they help out when they profited from the connections? I assume they exported their harvest," Robin threw in when Brook paused for another sip of tea. 

"Good question. They did and the deal was fair but to the other countries, the people of Ahona were still unwanted outlaws. This didn't stop until the miracle," he explained. "The more everyone was surprised when a stranger from a far away country took over the leadership of Ahona. Overnight, the country was back to its rich and perfect nature. No one knew what had happened, no one knew and I guess, no one still does." 

Indeed, that was quite a miracle or rather a very good mystery. Even so good that it was hard to believe that it had really happened. But how could she deny it when a witness was sitting right in front of her? "That's really miraculous. What happened to the stranger?" 

Brook put down his cup and set to refill it but found the pot empty. "He stayed for a while, I believe, but his impact on Ahona's reputation stayed forever." 

"What do you mean?" Robin asked in confusion.

"Before the miracle, outside of the lands of Ahona, products coming from the country were sold as low quality, more specifically 'made by the hands of the unholy'. People in and around Ahona were very religious, so when an unknown stranger helped the damned country out of misery, everybody thought it had been chosen by God." He stopped talking and sat up again, his face turned to her, "Would you excuse me, I would like to get some more tea." 

"Oh, yes, of course," she smiled brightly at him, "I think I am satisfied for now anyway." She closed the book, put it on the table and stood up, "How about we get back into the game?" 

He blinked at her for a second, then smiled back. "What a good idea, Robin-san, but I must warn you, I have my lucky day today." 

She chuckled at him, "We'll see about that." 

Maybe encounters with him would stop being awkward from now on. And maybe next time before she'd start a new mystery, she would think of him first.


End file.
